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Arlo Guthrie providing a place to bring together individuals for spiritual service, as well as cultural and educational exchange founded the
Originally built as the St. James Chapel in 1829, the structure was enlarged in 1866 and renamed
Now, in a nutshell, olive oil can only be sold as "Extra Virgin" or "Virgin" if it contains no other substances, such as peanut oil.
The state Department of Consumer Protection began working on the issue two years ago, after a Norwalk importer complained............
Nov 21st, 2008 | HARTFORD, Conn. -- When food importer Luciano Sclafani spied a three-liter tin of extra virgin olive oil a couple of years ago selling for $9.99, he could tell without tasting a drop that it wasn't legitimate.
Lab tests proved him right. The oil, which should have sold for $25 or $30, was a cheap knockoff, 90 percent soybean oil and 10 percent pomace, the oil that's collected from the ground flesh and pits after pressing.
"Olive oil is the closest thing to my heart that I sell," said Sclafani, president of his family's 97-year-old food-importing and distribution business in Norwalk, Conn.
His revelation helped lead to Friday's announcement by Connecticut consumer protection officials that Connecticut is now the first in the nation to set quality standards for olive oil.........
AP – Luciano Sclafani shows some of the extra virgin olive oil that he sells, at his company's warehouse in …
Riding the wave of electoral victories on Nov. 4, some Senate Democrats began hinting that they might remove Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) from his post as Homeland Security Committee chairman in part because of ad hominem attacks he levied at Barack Obama during the presidential campaign in support of John McCain.
Last week, however, Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) sang a more forgiving tune. "[W]e should have a spirit of forgiveness with regard to Joe Lieberman and reconcile and move forward," Bayh said, suggesting that Lieberman apologize and "let bygones be bygones." Last night on MSNBC, Bayh said Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship unless he offers a "sincere apology" for his "unacceptable" rhetoric during the campaign:
BAYH:[Y]ou got to, you know, expect an apology -- a sincere apology -- and you got to keep tell him, "Look, we're going to give you a chance here. But if you don`t do the right thing as chairman, if, you know, we see any continuation with this kind of behavior," well then at that point, you know, the game is up at that point.
MADDOW: And -- but the game would be up in the sense that he would get stripped of his leadership positions?............
(CNN) — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made clear Friday he's not happy with Joe Lieberman over the onetime Democrat's avid support of John McCain's White House bid, but told CNN the Connecticut independent has a strong record of voting with the Democrats.
"Joe Lieberman has done something that I think was improper, wrong, and I'd like if we weren't on television, I'd use a stronger word of describing what he did," Reid told CNN's John King. "But Joe Lieberman votes with me a lot more than a lot of my senators. He didn't support us on military stuff and he didn't support us on Iraq stuff. You look at his record, it's pretty good."..........
Text of Democrat Barack Obama's speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
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OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.
Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!
OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
AUDIENCE: Yes we can.
OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
There will not be a Constitutional Convention in Connecticut, at least until 2028.
Voters in Connecticut have decided against holding a convention to amend the state's constitution, dealing a major blow to opponents of same-sex marriage.
The Associated Press reports, with 45 precincts counted, the question failed 61 percent to 39 percent.
Proponents of a convention had viewed it as the easiest path toward overturning last month's state Supreme Court ruling that found banning gay marriage unconstitutional...........
GRISWOLD, Conn.—In May of 1854, the Ray family of Jewett City was frantic.
The large farming family was dying from a devastating disease that caused strong young adults to waste away. Consumption, now known as tuberculosis, was spreading through its ranks with a vengeance.
The family had exhausted traditional means of prevention and were left with one recourse: exhume the bodies of two sons who died from the disease and burn them "on the spot," as a local newspaper recounted some eight years after the event.
The Rays believed they needed to kill the dead to keep them from feeding on the living.
Last Thursday, state Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni and municipal historian Mary Deveau were to take visitors on a walk through history and discuss the plight of the Ray family and what are now known as the Jewett City vampires. The walk was the final stroll sponsored by The Last Green Valley's Walktober celebration.
"People were frightened. It was a final effort to save the living," Bellantoni said of the practice.
Griswold and Bellantoni both hold prominent places in what folklorists describe as the New England vampire belief................
I think machine gun shoots are pathetic events.
Basically, it’s a bunch of guys who get together and blow things up. They are drawn by the chance to shoot a variety of fully automatic weapons at targets like cars (probably some sort of road rage release) and other things that look “cool” when they get shot and blow up.
While these gatherings strike me as both sad and silly I understand that they are legal and that there are men who get a thrill from the destructive power of firearms. These events will, no doubt, continue to take place across this county...............
Police arrested the dog's owner, Brian Moson, 35, of Suffield, Sunday night after a passerby noticed the 5-year-old Australian Shepherd being dragged along River Boulevard, police said.
Moson was about a mile from his home when two cars pulled him over, boxed him in and untied the dog from the trailer hitch, police said.
Neighbors bundled the dog in blankets and rushed it to VCA Boston Road Animal Hospital in Springfield, Mass. but the dog was too badly injured and had to be euthanized, police said..............
WEST HARTFORD — - Police are investigating five thefts from unlocked cars that occurred late Tuesday and early Wednesday on Shady Lane, Whetton Road, Westborough Drive and Uplands Drive.
Among the stolen items were GPS devices, an iPod, a laptop computer and satellite radios.
"All the cars were unlocked," said Capt. Paul Melanson, head of detectives. "Smashing windows makes noise and attracts attention."
Drug users trade stolen electronic items for narcotics, Melanson said. Town police urge residents to lock their cars, leave nothing in plain sight and bring equipment inside.
Sprague (WTNH) -- A Norwich priest says he is a victim of religious discrimination and retaliation because he's a Wiccan priest.
Rusty Freeman, also known as Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman, says he's being discriminated against because of his religion -- he's a witch.
"It's about the whole older mentality of 'we don't want none of that witchcraft in our town,'" Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman said.
The Grist Mill community room above the Sprague Library is where Freeman wants to perform a Samhain ceremony celebrating the Celtic New Year when witches believe the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest.
"It's basically saying to the people, we lost in our life, that we miss and we love you," Rev. Freeman said.
But, his Halloween plans were halted. The First Selectman says he didn't follow proper procedures.
"It's about following the process," First Selectman Catherine Osten said. "We are a process oriented town and we expect people to follow the process and he has not.".........
You Call It Hallowe'en... We Call It Samhain Author: Peg Aloi
(WTNH) -- Many Connecticut residents are sharply divided on the issue of same sex marriage, but so are the clergy. News Channel 8 talked to a reverend who says she is ready to help any couples in love tie the knot.
There has been outrage and overwhelming joy over the state Supreme Court's decision to allow gay marriage.
Reverend Kathleen McTigue says she agrees with the decision saying, "One of the core values in our religion is the teaching that all human beings are of infinite worth and value and every human life weighs the same."
"Fundamentally it is the truth that they are simply not treated equally. Marriage under the law is a civil right and it has not been granted to them equally," Reverend McTigue said.
As a Unitarian minister, Reverend McTigue stopped signing marriage licenses four years ago because if she couldn't sign for everyone, she wouldn't sign for anyone..................
